Going Above and Beyond: Seven Exemplary Nurses Who Are Making a Difference

Inspiring nurse stories, dedicated to all of the great nurses who represent the caring profession

By Jennifer Larson, contributor

May 3, 2015 – Nurses are a talented and dedicated group, often going above and beyond the call of duty to care for their patients and meet the needs of those around them. In fact, you don’t have to look very far to find great nurses who make a habit of getting involved and giving more of themselves than they are asked.

NurseZone.com is privileged to highlight just a few of these nurse stories to honor all who go above and beyond in the nursing profession:

Turina Young, RN  

As someone who has spent her career in emergency medicine, first as a paramedic and then as a nurse, Turina Young, RN, is a problem-solver.

Young recently attended a continuing education class on her state’s Safe Haven Law. The law, also known as the Baby Moses Law, allows a parent to leave an infant at a designated “safe space,” such as a fire station or hospital, without fear of punishment. During the session, she learned that the volunteer firefighters who staff the stations in her community didn’t have any supplies for caring for an abandoned baby.

Young immediately took action. With the help of Shannon Forrest, DNP, RN, administrative director of nursing services at Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas, she was able to procure supplies–including blankets, diapers, formula and bottles–to create 10 emergency kits. Then Young, who works at Baptist Hospital Orange, personally delivered the supply bags to 10 separate fire stations.

“Turina actually did this on her day off. That’s going above and beyond,” said Lori Lee, RN, BSBM, director of emergency services for the hospital system. “She is definitely an asset.”

“If just one baby benefits from these 10 bags, it still made a difference,” said Young.

 

Jane Sandoval, RN  

The skills that Jane Sandoval, RN, has honed over the course of her impressive career as an emergency department nurse are very useful when she volunteers to do disaster relief work through the National Nurses United’s Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN).

In 2013, Sandoval traveled to the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan tore through the chain of islands. While she was there, she helped staff neighborhood health clinics that had not yet received any aid. She and the other nurses saw several hundred patients per day, including many children suffering from dehydration, malnourishment and post-traumatic stress disorder. Together, Sandoval and her fellow RNs worked with the clinic’s patients and helped provide care and compassion, accomplishing a great deal with very little resources.

 

Sharon Eriksen, RN 

Sharon Eriksen, RN, makes it her mission to provide exceptional patient care–no matter where in the world she might be. And she isn’t concerned about her own personal comfort while doing so.

For three years in a row, Eriksen provided care to impoverished patients in Jamaica. Then last spring, she visited earthquake-devastated Haiti with some colleagues from South Nassau Communities Hospital in New York. By day, Eriksen provided nursing care and emotional support to many grateful people. At night, she slept on a hard outdoor porch, unprotected by mosquito netting. The experience was so profound that she returned to Haiti twice more. She used her pediatric nursing skills to help impoverished children–many of whom had lost their entire families–near the capital city of Port-au-Prince.

At home in the United States, Eriksen is known for inspiring others to give more of themselves, too. She encouraged the pediatric team at her hospital to adopt a needy family during the holidays. She also provides nursing care to elderly nuns in her religious community, works with special needs children, and volunteers at a clinic for the underserved.

 

Michelle Moccia, DNP, ANP-BC, CCRN 

A woman, a plan, a can. Michelle Moccia, DNP, ANP-BC, CCRN, created a program called, yes, “Plan in the Can” as an aid for seniors living in her community. She gives old tennis ball cans a new life; each one is specially labeled and designed to hold a just-in-case card with important information about medications, the location of advanced directives and emergency contacts. This vital information will help emergency medical responders and providers, should the senior have to be transported to the emergency department.

After Moccia created the cans, she visited senior centers to explain how they worked and to distribute them. Moccia, who works at St. Mary’s Mercy Hospital in Livonia, Mich., has already given out more than 2,000 of these cans. For her efforts, she won the Excellence in Community Service Award from the Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses Association.

In addition, Moccia created a group in 2011 to help improve transitions of care between the emergency room and nursing facilities, and she volunteers at a clinic for the undeserved in her community.

 

Cynthia Murray, BN, RN-BC 

For her dedication and commitment, Cynthia Murray, BN, RN-BC, recently received the prestigious “Above and Beyond” award from the American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing (AAACN), the association’s highest honor.

Murray began her impressive volunteer work for the association in 2008, the same year she received her board certification in ambulatory care. She chaired a task force that wrote the association’s Care Coordination and Transition Management Scope and Standards of Practice. In fact, she pioneered writing the first such scope and standards of practice–in record time. Murray also served on the care coordination expert panels and the legislative team. And she continues to work with various other leaders on projects on her own personal time.

 

Larry Williams, RN 

As an ICU nurse with Stanford Health Care in California, Larry Williams, RN, has embraced the honor of providing comfort and care to patients in critical situations, including end-of-life situations.

Recently, Williams connected with a patient who was a huge San Francisco 49ers fan. Unfortunately, the patient’s status was deteriorating. Williams made sure the patient and his family understood the gravity of the situation and that they were included in rounds and in conversations about prognosis. When he learned the patient’s last wish was to watch his beloved football team win a game, Williams took action. He moved the patient to a private room, which he arranged to have decorated for the occasion, and helped the patient contact his loved ones to come be with him for the game.

When the 49ers won, everyone erupted into cheers, and the patient quietly passed away. The family expressed their thanks to Williams for making their family member’s last hours of life so special.  Williams won a Daisy Award for his care, compassion and commitment to his patients and families.

 

Katie Parker, RN 

Katie Parker, RN, has spent five of her six years as a nurse at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. Her work in the Inpatient Solid Tumor Unit allows her to have a daily impact on the lives of the very sick children who depend on her expertise and care.

The small details matter to her; Parker makes it a point to know things like which child adores grape popsicles–so she can bring him one before he even asks. She plays “princess” with young patients who dream about tiaras and ballrooms even while they’re receiving treatment for cancer.

Yet she also cares deeply about the bigger issues, carefully monitoring her patients’ well-being and advocating for more medication to help a child control her pain or nausea. Nothing pleases her more than to get the good news that a patient is officially in remission.

“As an inpatient nurse, I’m often the first and last face patients see as they battle cancer. It’s an immense privilege to walk alongside them in their journey,” said Parker.

© 2015. AMN Healthcare, Inc. All Rights Reserved.